Dave's family

All the Mann-Philpott brothers.

The boys goofing of as usual.

The boys with Dad where they get their rugged good looks.

With their wives.

And a fabulous picture of Jeff!

My siblings

It looks like I'm not the only really tired one in the house. The cats have been seizing any opportunity to snuggle with mommy!

Merry Christmas?

Well this year's Christmas will be one that we look back at and laugh...
We were house sitting for Nancy and Vince and we were really looking forward to having a nice romantic Christmas morning by the fireplace. Well, Dave went and got some logs and put them in the fireplace with all of our discarded wrapping paper and using his boy scout skills started our little fire. Within minutes the house was filling with smoke and not one, but 3 smoke detectors were going off (keep in mind it's about 7am.) Dave quickly realized the flu was closed and forced me to wait outside until he could open it and clear some smoke. I tried Vince's cell phone but there was no answer so I tried Nancy's. Luckily, Vince answered and after about 10 minutes of him telling me and me telling Dave through the window we got the flu open. The house and everything in it (including us and our clothes) smelled like campfire. The romance of the fire had died so we let the fire die too. It was definitely exciting!
All in all it was a great Christmas and good times were had by all!

One down, 2 to go

It's official! I, David Michael Mann, have been accepted to University of Utah. Now I am just waiting to hear back from Arizona State and UNLV. ASU is still my top choice for now, but it is still nice to know that someone actually wants me. I feel so loved! Brook and I are enjoying our time off for Christmas, "vegging" for most of this morning. I hope all of you are well and enjoy your holidays. Happy Christmas!!

Finally fat enough!

Today we went to Joann's to get the rest of the fabric for the quilt my friend Cristina's future Mother-in-law is making for Carter. While we were there, I finally got asked by a total stranger when my due date was. I guess I am finally getting fat enough to look pregnant, or else she is just really rude.

We did get all the fabrics for the quilt and here they are:

Yummy!

I have seriously been scarfing down the food lately! Poor Dave has to eat dinner at about 4:30 every day because I'm so hungry after work that we have to get food before we even make it home. And it's not like I don't eat ALL day long... in the past 15 minutes I've had a fruit by the foot, a starburst, half a bag of popcorn, about 4 pieces of rocky road fudge AND I'm about to get my 2 string cheeses from the fridge! This is going to be one abnormally large child!!!!! Yikes!

"Mann" made baby stuff

Here are some things Brook and I have been working on for Carter. Over the weekend, Brook used her new sewing machine to make the baby blanket featured below. She got the idea from Sherrie and Jodi Moore. It turned out sooooo cute!


We have gotten a little polka dot crazy in Carter's room and now we might have too many. This project will be ongoing until we get the right concentration of dots. Sometimes Brook and I are a little too obsessed with perfection. Here is what we have so far.

Brook and I went to a new fabric store that was recommended by some friends today. I wasn't going to let her buy anything, but I suddenly felt that Carter needed a more "Mannly" designed blanket when I spotted this fabric. He will be the coolest baby ever! If you want to checkout the store's website, go to http://www.materialgirlfabric.com/.

In other news, Carter has been very active recently. We discovered last night that he enjoys being read and sung to. We read the book Brook's Grandma sent (mentioned in an earlier blog) to him and then I sang some songs by Josh Turner (a country singer with a low bass voice). He was so excited, probably because of all the attention he was getting, that he was bouncing off the "walls". Good times were had by all.

Pictures

Thanks Lindsay!

Proof that when the cats are tired they will tolerate anything. Yes, that is my sock.

Carter's first Christmas present

Carter got a package in the mail yesterday from his great grandma Joan. I can't even express my excitement of having a package addressed to Carter but the best part is what was inside! My grandma had sent a book called "The Life of Our Lord" that she had owned and read with her family every year at Christmas time. The copyright on the book is 1939 and it is still beautiful! On the inside cover she did a little pedigree chart for Carter going from my Great grandparents all the way down to him. This is one of the greatest presents I have ever received and it wasn't even for me!!!! I can't wait to read it to him!

Carter's new digs

Brook and I are in the process of putting the nursery together. Here is what we have so far!

What a difference 21 weeks make!

She may be bigger, but she is still a beauty!

The 25 days of Christmas

We decided we wanted to do something fun and "Christmasy" every day this month so we sat down and planned a bunch of activities. I'm excited because today is the first of many "Hot chocolate Tuesdays." It should be fun. Hopefully we will have pictures from some of the more exciting activities posted on our blog throughout the month.
In other news... I've now gained a total of 12 lbs since I've been pregnant so it looks like I'm right on target with how much they want me to gain. The anxiety is slightly under control and the doctor told me to try to avoid situations that would cause stress (haha... is that possible?) and to keep up with the yoga. We are also in the process of scheduling our birthing classes and we just scheduled our "4D" sonogram for January 10th so we should get some amazing pictures from that.
All in all the 2 and 1/2 of us are doing great and enjoying spending time together as a family (even though Carter has no choice in the matter!)

Namaste

Today was my first day of prenatal yoga. It was good, but I am sure I will be sore tomorrow! I was stretching muscles I didn't even know I had. I only did the sitting and standing exercises which took about 20 minutes, but I figure I should warm up to the full hour. Hopefully it will get easier, but even so it was pretty relaxing.